


Paint Me a Sky

by ItsFunnierinEnochien



Category: The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Genre: M/M, Phone Calls & Telephones, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 22:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4239180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsFunnierinEnochien/pseuds/ItsFunnierinEnochien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Patroclus broke his leg and can't watch the stars with Achilles, so they improvise</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paint Me a Sky

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic and it's a little rough, but it was inspired by my friends freaking out over being able to see Saturn and Venus

“Describe them for me.”

“...They look like two really bright dots that are really close to each other.”

Patroclus huffed. “Come on, you’re gonna have to do better than that. Get in touch with your inner poet.” 

“Alright fine, hold on.” There was a longer pause this time. Achilles stared up at the night sky, all the more clearer as he sat on the roof of his house. Patroclus was always better with words than he was. How was he supposed to make the sky and a bunch of stars sound fancy like Emerson or whoever. Achilles let out a frustrated sigh. “Why can’t you just be here? Then you could see them for yourself.” He knew the answer already, but he asked anyway.

“Briseis basically has me under house arrest. She said that it’s too soon for me to go out and she keeps threatening to kill me if I get within ten feet of the back door. Trust me, I’ve tried.” Patroclus had already hobbled around (with an angry Briseis close behind him) and stuck his head out all of the windows in the house to no avail, getting strange looks from people outside walking past. One of his neighbors had actually asked if he was okay. The trees surrounding the house were too tall to see Venus and Jupiter, coming within a third of a degree of each other, looking as though they were merging into one. He had been waiting months for this phenomena, and then he went and broke his leg on a hike because he’s the definition of clumsy and was too busy staring at his boyfriend to notice the ravine right in front of him. 

Achilles heard the disappointment in Patroclus’ voice through the phone and ran a hand through his hair. He pulled everything he could remember from his English classes and prayed that he didn’t sound like a complete idiot. “The sky looks like… a really dark, deep grey that’s not quite black. And it’s perfect, no wrinkles or anything. Then the stars, they’re like tiny points of light that someone poked with a needle in their own moment of madness. Somehow, they managed to create things in the sky too, like the Big Dipper and Orion and his bow. And Saturn… it’s so much father away from us, but it still manages to outshine Venus. It seems unnatural for two things to be so close together in the sky but it’s beautiful this way, like it’s right...” Achilles’ voice trailed off. Even though he was staring at the two planets, his mind was somewhere else.

With the phone held close to his ear, Patroclus closed his eyes and leaned back against the mass of pillows on his bed. He let Achilles’ words wash over him and could practically see his slender, deft fingers pointing out the constellations and stringing the stars together to make anything he desired. The planets were long forgotten, and Patroclus drifted off to sleep to the sound of Achilles’ voice, floating amongst the stars and gods.

It took Achilles a few minutes to realize that his boyfriend’s breathing had evened out and that he’d fallen asleep. Achilles chuckled and shook his head. “Good night, Patroclus.” He hung up, and turned to look back up at the stars.


End file.
